The Top 12 Terrifying Repair Bills

27th October 2023

As 31st October approaches MotorEasy has unearthed some Halloween horrors of car repair costs and imagined a Frankenstein car that brings together the worst parts for reliability and repair. This horror story car would need be checking in to the garage once a month with an average monthly repair bill of £5,500. It’s enough to make any driver’s blood run cold.

Analysis of MotorEasy warranty claims and their repair costs over the last 24 months, has dug up some financial frights which would have been their owners’ worst nightmare had they not been covered by an extended warranty.

To create Frankenstein’s car of horrors, MotorEasy has used the engine from a 2021 BMW 3 series, repairs to which cost an eye-watering £15,599. The Franken-gearbox comes from a nine-year-old Ford S-Max and cost a shocking £3,794 to replace, while repairs to the rocker cover gaskets from a Mercedes SLR would cost £8,880. Other parts of the Franken-car come from a range of manufacturers, including Volvo, Land Rover, Porsche, Mazda and Volkswagen. The total of all these repairs will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, coming in just under £65,000.

“Whether the on-screen monster who scares you the most is Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates or Jigsaw, these car repair bills are even more likely to keep you up at night,” commented Duncan McClure Fisher, CEO of Intelligent Motoring, the parent company of MotorEasy. “Of course, this Franken-car doesn’t exist so no motorist should face this worst-case scenario total bill, but these staggering repair costs bring to the fore the financial hit motorists can take when their vehicle breaks down."

As inflation stubbornly holds at 6.7% this month, keeping alive the threat of interest rate rises, a frightening 23% of UK adults say they couldn’t afford an unexpected cost of £200[i]. As fuel prices rise and a shortfall in skilled motor technicians continues, the cost of servicing, maintaining and repairing vehicles looks likely to worsen. Any one of these repairs could see a household’s savings buried alive if they do not have suitable warranty cover to protect them.

Duncan McClure Fisher concludes, “The cost of some of these repair bills will give most people goosebumps and are individually almost as expensive as the value of the car itself. An unexpected motor repair bill shock could leave motorists spiralling into debt and without a vehicle for daily life or worse still, driving a vehicle that isn’t roadworthy. Motorists who protect their vehicle with an extended warranty will avoid a screamer of a repair bill and benefit from keeping their vehicle on the road.”

[i] https://capuk.org/news-and-blog/cost-of-living-financial